The business behind the show

Scene Stealer: 'Twilight's' treetop filming

November 26, 2008 | 2:56
pm

That timeworn teenage vampire wooing ritual of taking your girl climbing high into the pine forests of the Pacific Northwest looks a lot simpler on screen in "Twilight" than it was in real life. To support actors Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart (and their stunt doubles) as they stood on a branch at the top of a particularly high pine in Oregon's Silver Falls State Park, the visual effects team, led by Richard Kidd, had to install a support rig up about 100 feet and spanning three pine trees. "It was four really large pipes that created the structure like a box and they snapped together like Lego pieces," he said. The rig not only steadied the tree that high up but also housed the winches and pulleys used to get the actors and stunt people into the trees. Additionally, the camera had to be installed on its own series of cables and winches high in the trees, where it was controlled remotely. But once they got their shot, Kidd's team's work wasn't finished. It had to go back and digitally remove the rig, the cables and even the harnesses strapped under the actor's clothes, which required weeks of digital tweaking. The results speak for themselves.